Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 year banking career, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, and other major industry publications. The American Bankers Association (ABA) published Barnewall’s Profitable Private Banking: the Complete Blueprint, in 1987. She taught private banking at Colorado University for the ABA and trained private bankers in Singapore.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

GENERAL MOTORS, GENERAL ELECTRIC: GUILTY OF ECONOMIC TREASON?

By Marilyn M. Barnewall
July 15, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

You, like me, may be tired of the presidential political ads – from both sides. The one that is fingernails on a blackboard for me is Barack Obama’s accusations that Mitt Romney has been for sending jobs to China. This entire television ad is a lie – and at its end the familiar voice of the man known as President Obama that tells me he approves the lies.

It was Barack Obama who gave TARP money to General Motors (which now builds 70 percent of its cars in China) and it was Barack Obama who appointed Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric CEO, his Chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Mr. Obama evidently didn’t realize Immelt was so stupid he needed to explain he meant American, not Chinese, jobs. Immelt calls China “GE’s second home.” I think
Americans should make China GE’s only home.

It is Barack Hussein Obama, not Mitt Romney, who had the nerve to make this television ad about sending jobs to China when two men who belong to Obama – GM’s Dan Akerson and GE’s Immelt – are sending jobs to China so fast my head is spinning!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DAN AKERSON, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS

In a 2011 speech in Shanghai, China, (listen to the speech here) just three years after General Motors and Chrysler received $80 billion from U.S. taxpayers to prevent both companies from failing, you, Mr. Akerson, said the following:

“Almost 7 out of every 10 cars we make are made outside the United States.” So, after accepting the “largesse” of the American people to save your poorly-run, unionized, lousy company, you moved 70 percent of cars built to China… taking jobs away from American citizens who will long be paying for the stupidity of General Motors management decisions over many years. Any American who doesn’t understand that unreasonable labor demands are COSTING rather than providing jobs is too dumb to vote!

Your Shanghai speech, Mr. Akerson, left no doubt that General Motors is now China Motors. You are shrinking your U.S. operations while increasing your Chinese business. You also said:

“We have eleven joint ventures in China with SAIC and FAW – vehicle manufacturing, sales, distribution, engineering, design, financing, (etc.). We operate 11 final assembly plants in China and 4 power train plants in 8 cities across the country… We have more than 2,700 dealerships and sales outlets nationwide.” SAIC is Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp – run by the communist government of China. FAW is another Chinese government-owned manufacturer.

“We regard our 11 joint ventures as 11 keys to success not just in China, but globally. Our commitment to working in China, with China, for China remains strong and focused on the future.” That’s what you said. (Akerson actually refers to China as 'the crown jewel in the GM universe.')

Your Cadillac brand actually sponsored a made-for-TV propaganda film. The Chinese Communist Party called it 'The Birth of a Party' in an apparent bid to become the black limo of choice for Communist Party officials. It makes me sick that I once drove a Cadillac – and even sicker that I still have an old Buick. I’ll be looking either at Ford or one of the Japanese cars when I invest in a new car. The Japanese, at least, employ Americans in America.

As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Akerson, you and your lousy company – like all multi-national companies – are guilty of corporate treason and economic terrorism. You have not only sold out the American people and economically crippled the nation because of your evident belief that your company is entitled to the benefits of American capitalism to save your sorry butts, but apparently also don’t believe Americans are entitled to the jobs the bail-out funds made possible. You are a liar and you are a thief… and your company has declared economic war against this Great Nation!

The truth is, the serially-incompetent Obama Administration placed NO restraints on the U.S.$80B TARP bailout and it stinks of crony capitalism. However, that’s no excuse for any American company to turn so viciously on the nation that gave it birth. I pray each night that you, personally – all American multi-national company CEO traitors – are judged in the next world by the same standards you have used in your corporate decisions (nothing personal, it’s just business). You only have to spend 80 or 100 here on earth, but you get to spend eternity in hell when your time comes (as it comes to all of us). You will pay a price for each person who has been harmed by your greed and avarice.

Would things be any better under a Mitt Romney presidency? Romney says the bailout of GM was okay because it saved Union jobs… but two of Romney’s biggest supporters, John Paulson and Paul Singer, walked away from the General Motors bailout with over a billion dollars – a 3000% profit from the GM playoffs – or, is that “payoffs?”

Because of GM’s un-American activities and willingness to ask the Chinese “how high?” when they are told to jump, China’s AVIC now owns the famed WWII ‘Arsenal of Democracy, Willow Run Plant, Saginaw Michigan.

AVIC, Saginaw’s largest employer, exports anti-ship missiles to… the Islamic Republic of Iran. No wonder nations of the Middle East consider the United States government a joke. It is.

You may be laughing now, Mr. Akerson… but it isn’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.

AN OPEN LETTER TO G.E. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER JEFFREY IMMELT

You, Mr. Immelt, are a particularly disgusting piece of trash and I say to any American that holds even one share of General Electric stock or buys a General Electric product, you belong on the same trash heap.

In February 2009, President Obama asked you to serve on the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (and we can tell how much you know about business by the results we see almost four years later). On January 21, 2011, Obama, obviously impressed with your failures, appointed you chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. This was a new position, created by Obama via one of his too frequent Executive Orders. In July 2011, you, Mr. Immelt, announced that General Electric is in the process of relocating its X-ray division from Waukesha, Wisconsin, to China. You have previously referred to China as GE’s “second home market.”

You, Jeffrey, are a pimp for your company and your company is a whore. In 2007, GE, the world’s largest industrial company, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of funds set aside to rescue banks. Is GE a bank? No, but as I said, it is a whore… it can be whatever it wants to be (that rhymes nicely with “G.E.,” doesn’t it?)

GE has a company called General Electric Capital, one of the world's largest and most diverse financial operations. GE Capital makes loans for commercial real estate, aircraft leasing and issues credit cards for stores like Wal-Mart. If categorized as a “banking company,” it would be the seventh largest bank in America. Because GE Capital is not a bank, it did not qualify for TARP funds under the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) funds. TLGP is a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) program designed to guarantee unsecured bank, thrift and holding company debt, thus strengthening confidence in the banking system. GE didn’t qualify for the program – but close to $80 billion was funneled through two small financial institutions into GE’s corporate coffers.

You see, GE Capital owned an FDIC-insured savings and loan and an industrial loan company in Utah. These two very small financial institutions made up only three percent of GE’s total asset base… but gained qualification to the TARP funds from the Obama administration under a loophole (more crony capitalism… debtism, I mean). Special privileges had to be manipulated through the system, but it was done quickly and, with Immelt in charge of NBC News, a GE company, publicity was contained. What can we deduce from your actions (rather than the lies which fall so easily from your lips)? How about this: GE is an American company when it is going bankrupt because of your poor management, but a global company when it wishes to ignore its responsibilities to the American people.

General Electric is a global company… which is totally compatible with your recent statement at the Milken Institute: “I am a complete globalist.”

Anyone who buys a General Electric product is supporting a company that has become one of the most skilled tax avoiders in America. In 2010, GE set aside a mere 7.4 percent of its $5.1 billion U.S. profits to pay taxes. Actually, it paid practically nothing.

Do you hold General Electric stock? It closed 3 July at 20.43… down – not a lot, but down. Your sales (last quarter versus a year ago) are down 8.2 percent. Your net income is down 2.2 percent (same quarter-to-quarter comparative). Your net income (using a five-year annual average) is down 7.61 percent and the dividends you pay (using the same five-year annual average) are down 9.95 percent. I’ll bet you worry a lot, Jeffrey, about whether the world government is really going to happen, and will it happen in time to save your sorry butt? I can only hope not.

OPEN LETTER TO READERS:

These guys don’t get away with what they get away with if they don’t have your help. You are the ones who buy General Motors and General Electric products (what is there about the word “general” that turns people into traitors to their own country?). You are the ones who support General Motors and General Electric stock by investing in companies that have declared economic war against the United States.

Maybe you don’t buy the stock – maybe your hedge fund manager does. Have you checked? Do you know in what companies the fund in which you have your IRA or other retirement funds invests? If you don’t, you should. It’s your responsibility to know such things. If you know and don’t care… as I said, you belong on the same trash heap on which they will soon find themselves.

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Business, and Who's Who in the World.

About Me

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. Barnewall taught private banking at Colorado University and has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction and one biography.
Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and has written editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, etc. She has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).